Burma opens commission

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 12

Burma opens commission

NZPA-Reuter Bangkok Burma’s Government, shaken by unrelenting street protests, has set up a commission to solicit public opinion, biit demonstrators took to the streets again yesterday demanding an end to the regime. Diplomats said protest leaders planned peaceful demonstrations every day this week. Several thousand young protesters gathered in front of the United States Embassy yesterday shouting for democracy, they said. Troops surrounded the Rangoon General Hospital, where monks, students and film stars whipped up thousands of other flag-waving protesters with fiery speeches. Banners strung between trees near the

hospital called for nonviolent protests to continue through the week. “It may well go on for a month,” said one Western ambassador contacted from Bangkok.

Burma has been torn since March by turmoil that has driven two Socialist leaders from office and could threaten a third.

• Diplomats said the former Justice Minister, Maung Maung, who took over the chairmanship of the ruling Burma Socialist Programme Party on Friday, was struggling to take control. The State-run news media invited people to give their opinion in person or by mail to a Government panel which opened an office in the capital yesterday.